Report: R.I. second-lowest diabetes prevalence in U.S.

RHODE ISLAND ranked second lowest in the country for the incidence of diabetes at 7.6 percent, according to recently released research from the Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being series. / COURTESY GALLUP/HEALTHWAYS
RHODE ISLAND ranked second lowest in the country for the incidence of diabetes at 7.6 percent, according to recently released research from the Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being series. / COURTESY GALLUP/HEALTHWAYS

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island has the second-lowest incidence of diabetes within its population in the nation at 7.6 percent, according to recently released research from the Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being series.
Only Utah has a lower level of the disease at 7.4 percent. Colorado is the third lowest at 7.9 percent. Massachusetts ranked seventh at 8.9 percent.
Gallup and Healthways examined all 50 states and 190 U.S. metropolitan areas to determine the highest and lowest rates of the disease.
Boulder, Colo.; Bellingham, Wash.; and Fort Collins, Colo., led metro rankings with the lowest reported levels of the disease at 4.9 percent, 6.1 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively. The Providence-Warwick-Fall River metro area ranked 40th best with a rate of 9.6 percent.
Alabama and West Virginia are the states with the highest diabetes prevalence with rates of 16.1 percent. The Mobile, Ala., and Charleston, W.Va., metros led the nation with diabetes incidence rates of 17.7 percent and 17.6 percent, respectively.

The survey said that approximately 2 million more adults are reporting that they have been diagnosed with the disease since 2008, when Gallup and Healthways started tracking diabetes in the United States. In 2016, the incidence of diabetes in adults climbed to 11.5 percent, compared with 10.6 percent in 2008.
In that time, the obesity rate also has climbed by almost 3 points to 28.3 percent nationwide. Rhode Island’s obesity rate was 27.9 percent, while Providence-Warwick’s was 30.5 percent.
The state ranking data for incidence of diabetes is based on a subset of 176,885 telephone interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states, conducted from Jan. 2 to Dec. 30, 2015. The metro ranking data for incidence of diabetes is based on a subset of 246,620 interviews with U.S. adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted from Jan. 2, 2014, to Dec. 30, 2015.

No posts to display